Page 46 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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having a positive effect on the water problems. On the other hand, the subsequent
rise in water levels may indicate fluctuations in the natural hydrogeologic system
due to short-term recharge of the near surface aquifers in Saudi Arabia.
TTiese modern problems, which seem insurmountable because of
insufficient data, raise issues which the geoarcheologist can assess. Long-term
trends are present in both the natural and cultural systems of Bahrain. Abandoned
irrigation systems point to a long history of water problems. The presence of
abandoned agricultural land suggests an interplay between water and human
activity.

E. L. Durand, in reports to the British Political Resident in Bushire, made
the following observations nearly a century ago during a visit to Bahrain:

Foremost amongst the trees is of course the date, and some of
the date gardens are extremely fine. Many, however, are
going to ruin, the result of bad Government, and indeed in
some places that were once fluorishing gardens, not a bearing
tree remains. [Durand 1879:4]

This is definite evidence of land abandonment prior to Durand’s time and obviously
prior to the advent of petroleum and drilled wells. Durand raised an equally valid
explanation for land abandonment. His recognition of control of government public
works projects as a factor in agricultural development is one of the few cases for
Bahrain in which a socioeconomic cause for the observed patterns of abandonment
has been suggested. While this recognition does not negate the long-term natural
decrease in artesian water as a dominant factor in agricultural deterioration, it
underlines the overly simplistic view taken when historical data are not studied in
detaiL
Cultural causes for land abandonment must be considered. For example,
the Bahrain Department of Agriculture has expressed concern over the loss of date
gardens over the past 30 years. While the department has been chiefly concerned
with the drop in artesian water levels, the socioeconomic effects of changing
markets and land-tenure systems are also stressed, Market problems were
discussed as early as 1958. It was noted that the land area under vegetable